What’s Next for General Motors?

General Motors is behind the wheel of one of the most environmentally damaging vehicles, as well as one of the most promising for climate change. But it is also in dire financial straits. Can the automotive giant give itself a makeover, and at what cost?

In 1999, General Motors acquired Hummer, a mainstream incarnation of an army vehicle, the Humvee. The car became a favorite in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, not to mention a staple of hip-hop videos and celebrity driveways. Its 2.6-ton weight and shiny, seemingly indestructible body were an almost glaring symbol of luxury. But after lagging sales in the first months of 2008, the vehicle may be in its final days, as General Motors looks toward greener auto technology to compete with Asian and European carmakers.

Hummer’s lackluster sales performance has “delighted green campaigners, who view the vehicle as the ultimate in motoring irresponsibility,” writes the Guardian. Its “problems” include a 29 percent decline in sales over the first four months of 2007, despite whopping increases in European countries, particularly Russia. Increased awareness about the gas-guzzler’s damage—it travels a mere 10 to 15 miles per gallon—has come from environmental groups and even the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who gave up an entire “fleet” of Hummers after he was elected.

Ironically, it was California that indirectly helped General Motors usher in a new era in automaking in the mid-1990s when CARB, the California Air Resources Board, began to establish state targets for emission levels (a state right upheld by the Supreme Court in a 2007 ruling). The General Motors electric car, the EV1, also became very popular in California. However, the government gradually moved away from the terms set by the first piece of legislation in its Zero-Emissions Vehicle Program in 1990, and GM ultimately scrapped the EV1. General Motors was condemned for that move in the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?”, but is now working on a 2.0 version, the Chevy Volt. Anticipation is building at GM-Volt.com, a blog allegedly unaffiliated with General Motors, which has articles and multimedia about the car, its technology and the philosophy behind the vehicle.

Part of the argument for scrapping the EV1 was the “unsustainable” aspect of repairing and replacing its parts. A decade later, gas-powered cars are themselves appearing largely unsustainable for more global reasons. When the EV1 was abandoned in 2003, CBS News wrote that “GM suggested electric cars would soon be as common as toasters.” Many car companies still believe this, the assumption being that General Motors debuted its car too soon, before technology had been developed enough to create longer-lasting batteries and reduce the cost of the parts.

The “Heritage” section of General Motors’ Web site is an impressive collection of the elements of the company that modern consumers have likely forgotten. The company has existed for 99 years and has created memorable, pioneering cars like the Corvette, Oldsmobile and Pontiac, each of which recalls a bygone era of innocence, design-consciousness and simple luxury. Like its rival, Ford, General Motors’ cars have gone from being a solution to being a problem. The price of gas and level of carbon dioxide in the air are calling for a new solution. With the Volt, General Motors is attempting to show that an American car company can also be a leader.